


An Anthology of Once Upon A Times

by Evygirl125



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Bedtime Stories, Children's Stories, Cottagecore, Falling In Love, Gen, Happy, Legends, Lessons, Love, Love Stories, Magic, Mermaids, Monsters, Moon, Morals, Mountains, Nature, Once Upon A Time, Sad, Sea God, The Power of a story, True Love, Witches, fairytale, learning, myths, stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evygirl125/pseuds/Evygirl125
Summary: This will be a collection of many different stories. They will be vaguely like fairytales.





	An Anthology of Once Upon A Times

**Author's Note:**

> I have always loved reading short little fairytale-esq stories, and I decided that I would love to write some of my own. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Once upon a time, there was a man. He lived by himself on a farm, taking care of the fields of grain and all the animals. Although the man was content, he wished for company. He wanted a wife to make him dinner, sire his children and help him take care of the farm. The man thought on this for a while, and eventually decided to go see the Witch.

The Witch lived on a tall mountain, one with steep cliffs and loose rocks. 

As the farmer made his way up to her house, he thought of how much better his life would be once he finally had someone to spend it with. He climbed and climbed, his excitement growing with every step. 

When he finally knocked on the door of the Witches house, he was very tired. He had been hiking for many hours without food. Seeing that the sun was setting, the Witch invited him inside for some rest and a bowl of stew. 

As the man ate, he told the Witch why he had come. He told her that he was lonely, and he needed someone to love. The Witch listened patiently, and when the man was finished eating, she told him to sleep in front of the hearth for the night, that he could go home in the morning. The man obliged, stoking the fire when it burnt down. 

In the morning, the Witch told the man that she would help him procure a wife. She told him that he should go back to his farm, and in exactly a month, his wife would appear.

The Witch told the man that his wife would be everything he hoped, and that he would have a good life with her, filled with love, laughter, and many children. 

The man was overjoyed, and he thanked the Witch profusely. As he made his way to the door, however, she issued her warning. 

“You may never again knock on my door,” the Witch said. “If you do, there will be grave consequences.”

The man nodded, holding those words in his heart. He left, trudging back down the mountain. 

As the man waited for his new wife, he cleaned his house magnificently, and saved all the money he could for a new wedding dress.

On the day his wife was to arrive, he dressed in his finest clothes. He made bread, and cooked a fine piece of meat for dinner. He swept the floors and made up the bed. A fire was made, warming the whole house. 

When his wife appeared at the door, the man was nervous. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her hair was deep black, like the sea at night, and her skin was smooth and perfect. Her eyes were the richest brown, and her gown, though simple, was worn confidently, like a queen. 

The man instantly loved his wife, and she loved him. They spent the next ten years together, in perfect harmony, raising their five children. 

One day, the youngest daughter became ill. The man had called the doctor, who had told him gently that his daughter would not live to see the next morning. Distraught, the man slipped from his house to beg the Witch for help. Although the man knew of the warning she had given him, he was prepared to face any consequences, as long as his child might survive. He slipped out of the house in the wee hours of the morning, trekking up the treacherous mountain, slipping on the moss-covered rocks.

When he knocked on the Witches door, there was no answer. 

The man grew desperate. He yelled for the Witch, but his voice was lost in the howl of the wind. He broke open the door, only to see that the house was uninhabited, and had been for what looked like for many years. The Witch was gone, and with it, his only hope of saving his daughter. 

The man climbed down the mountain, tears clouding his vision. He did not let them fall. He prepared himself to enter his house, wiping his eyes and straightening his shirt. He opened the door only to see his baby girl sleeping peacefully by the fire, and the Witch sitting at his kitchen table. 

“Witch!” He said. “Have you saved my daughter?” 

The witch looked at the man. Her face crumpled, and she began to weep in earnest. 

“What have you done?” She choked out. “Where did you go?” 

The man was confused, and he shook the Witch. “Where is my wife?” He asked, growing angry. 

The Witch said nothing, only took one last sweeping glance over the room, and disappeared. 

Wifeless and Witchless, the man tried to look for his love. He searched high and low, but she was gone. 

Months passed, and the man was heartbroken. He tried to seek the Witch again, in her mountain house, but it remained as abandoned as before. Eventually, he went into town, seeking someone that could help him.

This time, he was pointed in the direction of a thick woods, where an old woman lived. He went to see her, to inquire about what had happened to his wife, and to find out where the Witch had gone. 

As he explained himself to the woman, she looked at him with pity. 

“How can you not understand, you foolish man,” she told him. “The Witch was your wife. She gave her life and powers up for you, and now you have traded her for your daughter. You could not have them both, so you sacrificed one. There is nothing I or anyone else can do for you. Go back to your family, raise your children to be good and kind, and forget about your wife.” 

The man finally began to weep, all remaining traces of hope dashed against the rocks of her words. “There is truly nothing I can do?” He begged.

She paused a moment, and sighed. “When you can feel that your time on this earth is almost up, go to the sea. Beg for forgiveness, and maybe you will see her one last time.” 

The man, almost inconsolable, resigned himself to his fate. He went home, tears flying from his cheeks and into the dirt of the woods. Every time his tears struck the ground, a beautiful flower sprung from the earth. 

Several years passed. The man raised his children to be good and strong, and they all married well. Though the man was heartbroken, he was a good father, and he continued to mind his farm for the rest of his days. 

On the morning of what he could tell would be his last day on earth, he shut up his house, set free all the animals, and started his way to the sea. He traveled all day, finally reaching the shore just as the sun was setting. He fell to his knees, tears in his eyes, and begged the wind that whistled across his cheeks to help him find his wife. 

As the man looked into the sunset for the last time, his heart was finally broken in two. He fell to the ground, dead.

The wind took pity on the man, lifting his soul from his body, blowing him to every corner of the civilized world. Although he never found his lost wife, he hasn’t yet given up the hope that one day, he will. 

All those who beg for love are destined to one day lose it, and any who give love with conditions attached will spend their lives alone. 

The end.


End file.
